JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
Representatives of DesiCorp, Inc., met with leadership and research scientists assigned to Naval Medical Research Unit San Antonio at the Battlefield Health and Trauma Research Institute.
The representatives traveled from Louisville, Kentucky, for discussions on blood products, protocols, and an alpha prototype in support of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, Red Blood Cell Factory program.
DARPA's RBC Factory program aims to create a medical device-based platform to determine if it is possible to insert additional biologically active components (e.g., cargoes) into human RBCs.
“NAMRU San Antonio is serving as the Independent Validation and Verification (IV&V) partner on DARPA's RBC Factory program to provide testing and evaluation that verifies and validates research conducted by program performers,” said Dr. Dao Ho, a research immunologist assigned to NAMRU San Antonio’s Cellular and Immune Based Adjuncts Department “This collaborative effort ultimately helps the warfighter by offering novel ways by which to deliver treatments and/or protection to the warfighter.”
CIBACC, a subordinate department under the Combat Casualty Care and Operational Medicine directorate, conducts research on stem cell and immune based therapeutics intended to improve warfighter outcomes and survival.
NAMRU San Antonio, part of Navy Medicine Research & Development, works alongside research partners in the civilian sphere, academia, industry, and other government agencies to drive support of the Department of Defense's objectives for a lethal fighting force and ensures U.S. service members have access to the latest scientific advances.
NAMRU San Antonio conducts gap-driven combat casualty care, craniofacial, and directed energy research in support of Navy, Marine Corps and joint U.S. warfighter health readiness and lethality while engaged in routine and expeditionary operations.